Chapter 428 363: Grandmaster Realm, Arrivals Outside the City

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Ping'an's eyes snapped open, a sharp light bursting forth.

"Success!"

He had accumulated enough Cultivation Experience to achieve a breakthrough with the Dragon Elephant Dominating Body Technique!

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Ping'an's spirit stirred, and his Profound Light Spirituality flickered. The Cultivation Experience on the panel began to churn wildly, faster and faster. When it reached a certain point, it transformed into motes of starlight that sank into the space between Chen Ping'an's eyebrows.

A vast amount of enlightenment on the practical uses and variations of the Dragon Elephant Dominating Body Technique suddenly flooded Chen Ping'an's mind. It was as if all this knowledge had come from years of arduous cultivation and battle!

Dragon Elephant Dominating Body Technique, Minor Achievement!

As the Dragon Elephant Dominating Body Technique reached Minor Achievement, the Profound Light between Chen Ping'an's eyebrows shone, his Spiritual Energy abundant. The Spiritual Bud hidden deep within began to undergo a subtle change. The top of the bud, as if unable to withstand the internal pressure, first gently split open with a tiny crack.

Immediately after, the crack slowly widened. Then, amidst the flashing Profound Light, it silently traced the outline of a flower.

Petals, one after another, slowly unfurled in an elegant and natural manner. Some curled, others straightened, nestling against each other yet remaining distinct, weaving a splendid tapestry.

The bud bloomed, giving birth to the Spiritual Flower!

For an ordinary person Breaking Realm, every step of this process would be agonizing and incredibly difficult. The slightest mistake would lead to irretrievable doom.

But for Chen Ping'an, this incredibly arduous step was crossed with nonchalant ease!

The Spiritual Flower was crystal clear, brimming with the aura of life. Its petals radiated Spiritual Energy, shining deep within the space between Chen Ping'an's eyebrows and causing the surrounding scene to undergo a strange transformation.

At the same time, the True Qi in Chen Ping'an's body also began to change. As if answering some kind of call, his True Qi started surging toward the space between his eyebrows.

RUSH~

Like a rushing tide, the True Qi began to undergo a mystical transformation as it passed through the Yintang acupoint between his eyebrows. Under the illumination of the Spiritual Energy, the True Qi gradually solidified, forming True Essence.

As the True Essence circulated throughout his body, the major tendons around Chen Ping'an's body also began to widen and become tougher, able to withstand more tyrannical and ferocious bursts of True Essence...

Amidst this constant transformation, time trickled by.

After an unknown amount of time, the robes on Chen Ping'an's body began to move without any wind, rustling loudly. His body began to rise slowly, floating in a cross-legged position above the bed.

Chen Ping'an slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of pupils as tranquil as an ancient well. His aura was restrained, his Profound Light concealed. If not for the divine wonder of him sitting suspended in mid-air, anyone who saw him would have mistaken him for an ordinary person with no knowledge of the Martial Dao.

Jade Balance Grandmaster Realm!

Name: Chen Ping'an

Realm: Early Jade Balance Stage - Condensed Spiritual Flower

Martial Arts: Dragon Elephant Dominating Body Technique (Minor Achievement) (0/640), Soul-Severing Saber (Minor Achievement) (0/640), Three-Point Human Tribulation Finger (Great Success) (507/1600), Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill (Perfection), Great Vajra Palm (Perfection)...

.....

'So this is what it feels like to be a Grandmaster!?'

True Essence circulated around Chen Ping'an, emitting a faint green light. Supported by his True Essence, he could sit suspended in the air effortlessly, without any Borrowed Power.

This height was far from his limit. If he wished, he could easily rise several dozen zhang into the air by circulating his True Essence. If he disregarded the consumption of True Essence, he could even easily reach a height of a hundred zhang.

An ordinary Grandmaster could rise to a height of a hundred zhang and stand in the air. At critical moments, by expelling True Essence, they could also achieve Flying in the Sky.

However, let alone Flying in the Sky, even just standing in the air consumed a massive amount of True Essence every moment. Such a divine technique was only used in emergencies and under special circumstances.

As for Flying in the Sky... it was basically out of the question for an ordinary Grandmaster! Even with a Grandmaster's profound reserves, they could at most sustain it for a little over ten breaths.

Exchanging all of one's True Essence for just over ten breaths of flight was, by any measure, a terrible trade!

Except in extremely rare cases, no Grandmaster would ever do such a thing! At most, they might use a burst of True Essence at a critical moment to flash away and dodge a fatal blow!

Therefore, most of the time, Grandmasters would not display such divine abilities. Even when fighting, they primarily stayed on the ground. Only when a fight became truly heated would they battle in the air, regardless of the cost.

After Chen Ping'an entered the Jade Balance Realm and became a Grandmaster, the space deep between his eyebrows had transformed into a Spirit Platform. Atop this Spirit Platform grew a Spirit Plant that seemed to breathe mist. At the top of the Spirit Plant, nestled between a few round, tender leaves, grew a Spiritual Flower.

Spiritual Energy faintly shone on its petals.

At this moment, Chen Ping'an had only just broken through his Realm, and the Spiritual Flower was still in an illusory state, not yet fully solidified. As his Cultivation continued, the Spiritual Flower would gradually solidify until it became tangible. At that point, it would mean Chen Ping'an had cultivated the Early Jade Balance Stage to Perfection. He would be just one step away from the Mid-Jade Balance Stage.

After becoming a Grandmaster, Chen Ping'an had also condensed his own unique Martial Arts Will. Having just broken through, his Martial Arts Will was still somewhat weak, but it was not something an ordinary Martial Arts Cultivator could withstand.

According to Chen Ping'an's own calculations, under his Martial Arts Will, an ordinary Qi Blood Realm cultivator wouldn't even be able to form a thought of resistance. Even an Inner Qi Realm cultivator would be affected by his Martial Arts Will, their Inner Qi becoming sluggish and difficult to circulate, greatly diminishing their combat power.

As Chen Ping'an continued his Cultivation, the power of his Martial Arts Will would grow ever stronger. A technique like this could be considered a divine skill for crushing weaklings!

However, using it over a large area would also be extremely draining. In some situations, it wouldn't be a very worthwhile trade-off.

Besides these changes, Chen Ping'an's senses had also sharpened dramatically. He could now easily perceive disturbances from far away.

'I wonder where my current combat power ranks among Grandmasters?'

Entering the Jade Balance Realm and becoming a Grandmaster had undoubtedly boosted Chen Ping'an's combat power significantly.

In addition to the increased combat flexibility from being able to stand and fly in the air, there was also the power boost from his Martial Arts Will interfering with reality.

Against an opponent of the same Realm, although his Martial Arts Will couldn't directly affect their combat power, it could still disrupt their rhythm to some extent.

Most crucially, all the True Qi in Chen Ping'an's body had transformed into True Essence, something unique to Grandmasters. For a cultivation technique at the same level of comprehension, the power unleashed using True Qi versus True Essence was on a completely different level.

According to Chen Ping'an's calculations, if he were to unleash the same Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill with a burst of True Essence, its power would increase by several fold!

Furthermore, both his endurance and explosive power had improved significantly.

Even before this breakthrough, Chen Ping'an's combat power was already comparable to a Grandmaster's. Now, his strength had skyrocketed, making him incomparably stronger than before.

Based on a comprehensive analysis and his own estimations, his current combat power, while perhaps not equal to Gu Qingchan of the Ice Soul Divine Needle, was now on par with Xue Shishun of the Seven Luminaries Vein-Sealing Hand!

In terms of combat power alone, among Early Jade Balance Stage Grandmasters, he could certainly be described as belonging to the "Strong" tier.

According to what he had learned from booklets these past few days, Early Jade Balance Stage Grandmasters could be roughly divided into several tiers based on combat power: ordinary, strong, and top-level.

Someone like Xue Shishun of the Seven Luminaries Vein-Sealing Hand was considered to be at the Strong Level among Early Jade Balance Stage Grandmasters.

Meanwhile, Wang Xu of the Fiery Sun Palm and Gu Qingchan of the Ice Soul Divine Needle belonged to the top level. Gu Qingchan's combat power was a cut above Wang Xu's, putting her close to the level of a Mid-Jade Balance Stage cultivator.

As Chen Ping'an was lost in thought, he discovered that maintaining his seated, levitating position had already consumed nearly a tenth of his True Essence.

Although this consumption rate was partly because he had just broken through and his True Essence reserves were not yet completely full, it was still enough to demonstrate the enormous cost of the divine technique of standing in mid-air!

The green light around Chen Ping'an gradually dimmed as his body slowly descended, and he sat cross-legged on the bed.

'I need to consolidate my Grandmaster Realm as soon as possible. Once my realm is stable, I'll start nurturing the Profound Ice Silk Armor!'

....

Just as Chen Ping'an was in seclusion consolidating his realm, a group of several riders galloped like a sudden storm along the official road outside Five Peaks Mountain City. Their horses' hooves thundered and kicked up clouds of dust, carrying an air of incomparable arrogance and urgency.

The leader wore tight-fitting black clothes and had two bright red Command Flags stuck on his back, which whipped and snapped in the wind.

As the horses galloped, a rider from the side drew close to him to ask for instructions. "Lord Tong, Five Peaks Mountain City is just ahead. Should we notify them in advance!?"

The man looked at the nearby Five Peaks Mountain City with a condescending expression, a disdainful smile playing on his lips.

"Lord Cao is dead, and Mang Blade Chen Ping'an is heavily implicated. He can be treated as a suspect. No need to notify them! Enter the city directly!"

"Yes, My Lord!"